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2019 Thomas More vs. Alabama football game (Dane)
The '2019 Thomas More vs. Alabama football game '''was a week one regular season football game of the 2019 college football season between the Thomas More Saints of D-3 and the Alabama Crimson Tide of the D-1 SEC. The game was held at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on August 31, 2019, and was the first ever game between these two teams. It was also the first time that a division one school had successfully scheduled a division three opponent onto a regular season schedule. The Crimson Tide entered the game as the preseason number one in both the AP and Coaches poll. The general audience expected this game to be a blowout in favor of Alabama, however, many were unsure as to by how much, as a Division One program had never previously played head to head against a Division Three program. Many bettors on Vegas were surprised to even see a line for this game, registering Alabama as a 116-point favorite, the largest margin in college football history. Some thought Alabama would win by as many as 200 points. The game was broadcast nationally on CBS, to the confusion of many, who believed that CBS would instead broadcast the renewal of the rivalry between #7 Texas and #13 Texas A&M instead. The game was predicted to be a large margin of victory for Alabama, potentially even threatening the 222-0 record set by John Heisman's Georgia Tech against Cumberland nearly 100 years earlier. Broadcast & Game The broadcast of the game became awkward immediately after coming onto TV. Gary Danielson chuckled at the beginning at the broadcast, commenting ''"why do we even have to broadcast this? We all know Alabama's going to win by 200." He was told that many viewers might want to "see the history" ''and they reluctantly continued with the broadcast. ''"well, folks, we all know Alabama is going to win this game, we just want to see by how much, evidently," Gary Danielson said prior to kickoff. First Quarter Alabama quickly asserted its expected dominance in this game by returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown to quickly go up 7 to nothing just seconds into the game. The ball was then received by Thomas More for a touchback, who took a first down and 10 at the 25 yard line. Despite the doubts of the commentators, 10 minutes later, Thomas More ran a one yard QB sneak into the endzone. Brad Nessler chuckled in response saying "Touchdown Thomas More, that's probably the only time today we're gonna say that today". The score tied the game at 7-7 as the game entered the second quarter. Second Quarter As was expected, Alabama finally began to break away in the second quarter. Alabama had three touchdowns in the second quarter- two off passing touchdowns from Tua Tagovailoa to Jerry Jeudy, and one off a pick six from Thomas More's offense. Thomas More, however, responded with a 3 minute long, 65 yard drive that shoved them into the endzone right before half, resulting in a 28-14 halftime score in favor of Alabama. At halftime, many discussed how Alabama was "underperforming" expectations, and had allowed two Touchdowns to Thomas More. Many thought Alabama would still win, but that Thomas More would cover the spread and lose by 50 or 60. Regardless, many thought that Thomas More fared surprisingly well against Alabama in the first half for a D3 school playing in front of a crowd of 100,000 screaming Alabama fans. Third Quarter Midway through the third quarter, the game was widely expected to be over after Alabama broke open a 42-14 lead after another rushing Touchdown from Damien Harris. However, the best part of the game was yet to come... "The Comeback" Thomas More began to strike downfield, eventually putting up another touchdown in the 3rd quarter off a 22 yard touchdown pass. This inched the score to 42-21, with Thomas More within 3 scores at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and many still believing the game is going to be won by Alabama... Fourth Quarter the Fourth Quarter is where the comeback began to gain serious leverage. Alabama drove down the field much of the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, only to be intercepted at midfield. Thomas More then slowly drove down field and rushed for another 1 yard touchdown, bringing the score to 42-28 Alabama. It was at this point that people began to think this was going to be a serious scare for the best team in the country. Alabama coach Nick Saban attempts to put the game away by leaning on Damien Harris. They attempt to run down the field, only to be able to blow a minute and a half off the clock after being stopped on a surprising third and one, forcing a three and out and a punt. Alabama punted the ball back to Thomas More's offense. They, once again, manage to drive down the field against a typically stout Alabama defense, scoring another touchdown to bring the game within one score, 42-35 with three minutes to spare. The crowd appears silenced and physically blank as they stare at a scoreboard showing a division three program down one score on the giant that is Alabama. With a practically silent crowd, Alabama gains the ball back on offense at the Alabama 25. They again attempt to run the clock out with Damien Harris, who runs for 3 yards on 1st down, 3 yards on 2nd down, and 2 yards on 3rd down. Again being stopped, Thomas More uses a timeout, allowing them to get the ball back with a chance to send the game to overtime with just a minute and a half to spare. Thomas More gets the ball back at the 15 yard line with 85 yards to the end zone and just 1:24 to drive the distance. The crowd cheers massively for the defense, in hopes of ruining Thomas More's rhythm. However, Thomas More continued to drive down the field. The first play of the drive was a 17 yard completion along the right sideline, followed by a 13 yard completion and then a 20 yard completion, leaving Thomas More just 35 yards from the end zone in time to spike the ball with just 24 seconds to spare. at that point, Thomas More throws the pass up and it is caught be a wide receiver in the endzone for a touchdown, making it 42-41 Alabama pending the extra point. However, at this point, a major confrontation begins to occur in the stands. The receiver who caught the touchdown pass attempts the "Lambeau Leap", leaping into the Alabama stands. He is quickly dragged onto the floor by four Alabama fans, who proceed to beating him with textbooks and other loose nearby items. The refs throw a flag, and the stadium security comes down and escorts the unruly set of fans out of the stadium. The Wide Receiver is taken to the hospital to check for serious injuries. The flag is for unsportsmanlike conduct on the stands, 15 yards assessed to the kickoff. Thomas More then takes the major risk of going for a two point conversion, to go up 42-43. The Quarterback took a rush just over the line, giving them the two point conversion and a 43-42 lead over Alabama. However, the game still had time. With 11 seconds left, Alabama fields the ball once again. They complete a quick out pass for six yards, leaving 69 yards to the end zone with five seconds left. Tua Tagovailoa throws a quick play of desperation, and after seven different successful laterals, Alabama ultimately falls about 30 yards short of a touchdown. Thomas More storms the field as Alabama fans walk off in disgust.